Echoes in the Void: Shibuya Keiichiro’s Android Opera Music Beyond Humanity

Questions Raised by “Something Never Seen Before”

During the encore, Shibuya, perhaps improvising, performed a piano piece alongside Alter 4, and they also presented a second rendition of “Scary Beauty,” with Shibuya on piano and Alter 4 singing. The screen projected Shibuya and Alter 4 gazing at each other. At this moment, witnessing the evolved collaboration between Alter 4 and a human before our eyes, I felt a sharp question being posed to us: how do we feel about this, and how do we imagine the future? At this point, androids have moved beyond the phase of being praised merely for using generative AI. Or perhaps, seeing future creative works will retrospectively reveal how much the android opera has achieved.

Regarding android opera, or the use of AI and robots in creative endeavors, numerous interviews and discussions with stakeholders have been published online. If this article has piqued your interest, I encourage you to search for them. However, it’s crucial to emphasize that these works are not inaccessible without specialized knowledge. For instance, in Shibuya’s Vocaloid opera “THE END,” released in 2012, many fans of Hatsune Miku attended and were deeply moved by the performance.

If you’re someone who wants to encounter something you’ve never seen before, I can confidently say you should attend Shibuya’s next concert.